Maasdam New Year's Sailing

[txyellowrose]

I am new to this board. Have been on ten cruises, but this will be my first on Holland. My husband and I are going on the New Year's cruise on the Maasdam. Would appreciate any info on this ship and also what we can expect on New Year's Eve onboard. Thanks!

[WeLoveCruising]

Welcome to Cruise Critic, and to Holland America Line. My husband and I were on the Maasdam last year for Christmas and New Year's. We had a great time!

 

I wrote a review in many sections, so I will cut and paste the New Year's Eve section here:

 

 

New Years Eve

The night started with a formal dinner in the dining room. The dining room was decorated in black and white, with gold accents. There were balloons, streamers, and banners. Tiaras were provided for the ladies, and party hats for the men. The staff was also passing out noise makers and other fun stuff. We had received a gift of a bottle of champagne in our cabin, which we brought to the wine bar a few days before and asked them to chill and hold it for our dinner, and it was waiting for us.

 

After dinner, around 11pm, they started setting up international buffet stations around the ship - outside the casino, in the atrium, outside the Crow's Nest, etc. They had French with chocolate and cheese fondues, as well as crepes, Mexican, and cheese station, dessert station, Dutch, etc.

 

I cant imagine that anyone was in their room this night, because the ship was hopping! There were parties in all the lounges. The Rembrandt lounge had dancing on the stage with the officers, and a "Father New Year" character and a "Baby New Year". Champagne started flowing freely around 11:45 and they were generous with it until about 12:30. There was no lack of champagne and our glasses were filled about 7-8 times without us asking.

 

Countdown started, and at midnight the balloons were released from a net above, and the band and crowd broke out into Auld Lang Syne.

 

We had so much fun that the next morning we started checking itinteraries for next Christmas / New Years :)

[sail7seas]

Welcome to HAL and CC.

 

You made a great choice for your first HAL cruise. MY DH and I have cruised that ship many times and are looking forward to boarding her again next month. She is a wonderful size, very beautiful and elegant. Easy to get around and nothing is very far from somthing else.

 

I will look for a link to comments I posted about our cruises on her in June and will post it here.

 

I hope you love that ship and her crew as much as we do.

 

[sail7seas]

Here's a link to comments I posted about our June cruises. Hope it's helpful.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=620323&highlight=Random+Comments+Maasdam